


Take Me Home

by ifonlycriedthewoodpecker



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family, Fluff, aged down, mentions of child abuse in future chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 04:58:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17739452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifonlycriedthewoodpecker/pseuds/ifonlycriedthewoodpecker
Summary: As Killian Jones goes missing in the dead of night, and a familiar little boy suddenly appears, Emma finds herself trying to get her husband back, and learning some things about him in the meantime.





	Take Me Home

**Author's Note:**

> Idk how well this is going to come out as it's been FOREVER since I've written, but I'm sick so I might as well word vomit too, huh? Anyway, this is meant to be a multichapter thing (my first one that I will hopefully stick with!), and I would highly appreciate some feedback, bro.

As she awoke to screaming, she couldn’t exactly say she was surprised.  
It had been several months since the last attack on Storybrooke, and though Emma didn’t mind the quiet, she had recently been getting more and more tense in anticipation of their next visitor. Her head spun as she rushed out of bed, throwing on her clothes and coat before she turned, expecting to find Killian behind her in a similar position.  
He wasn’t.  
His side of the bed was rumpled but empty, and his hook still rested on his nightstand.  
Great.  
She, of course, was worried about her husband’s location, and wanted to find him as soon as she could, but as the yelling outside the window grew more frantic, she took a breath and hoped that she would find him already trying to corral the chaos.  
_But without his brace on?_  
She pushed the thought aside and rushed out of their room.  
-  
As she ran out into the road, she found snow rapidly descending upon their neighborhood giving it an almost peaceful quality. Save for the shivering figure in the middle of it all, that is.  
Kneeling in the middle of the street was the silhouette of a child curling in on themselves while crying out. Their cries were growing weaker and weaker with the shiver in their voice beginning to take over, but several of their words were intelligible.  
“Please...brother?”  
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, approaching quickly. The brisk, cold air hitting her in the face alerting her to how frozen this scrawny kid must feel.  
They turned quickly, shaking miserably, and meeting her eyes with their own bloodshot ones. It was a little boy, no older than eleven, with pale skin, dark hair, and a nose already chapped red from the cold. His eyebrows pinched, and his mouth opened, but before he could answer her, a shiver overtook him and he hunched over once again.  
She ran over to him, taking her coat off and wrapping him in it. Pulling him into her arms, she noted how thin he was and his slight hiss as she picked him off the ground. She’d worry about that in a minute. Heading back towards the house, she glanced up and down the street one last time to see if there was any trace of anyone else: a parent, his aforementioned brother, Killian perhaps. There was no one, though, not even any other footprints in the snow besides hers and this boy’s. She sighed.  
Another chill ran through him, quickly reminding her of the situation, and she threw open the door and jogged to lay him on the couch. Doing so, she then wrapped him in as many blankets as she could find, lit the fireplace with a wave of her hand, and produced a mug of tea to hand to him.  
However, even in the short amount of time it took her to do these things, his eyes had slipped shut, and his breathing had gotten deep and even. The dark circles beneath his eyes made it clear that this was rest he needed badly, and though she needed to know who he was in order to get him home safely, she figured he would be safe here - indoors, warm, and in the company of the town sheriff - until morning. Scooping him off the couch, she noticed that he was still shivering slightly and that his clothes were absolutely soaked. Envisioning the outgrown, flannel pajamas of Henry’s that were in the back of her son’s closet, she felt the material beneath her fingers shift into the sort that was soft and dry. Satisfied, she carried him up towards their spare bedroom.  
She gently placed him underneath the covers of the bed and then heaped a few more blankets on top as he unconsciously snuggled deeper. A sigh of contentment filled the otherwise quiet air as he got comfy, and she felt a fond smile tilt her lips before she gently shut the door and began to roam throughout the house. She wondered vaguely if this was going to be a situation like that of Hansel and Gretel. A child lost from their parents, or neglected by them, that she would have to take care of until their family got their act together.  
Regardless, for the moment, he was safe. Which was not something that could be said for her missing husband, who was not anywhere within their rather spacious house. As a last ditch effort she went back to their bedroom and found her phone, tapping on his name and waiting anxiously for a response on his end. On the opposite side of the room, a buzzing sound came from within his nightstand and a knot formed within her stomach.  
Where had he gone?

**Author's Note:**

> I've read stories with Emma aged down, and they have provided some gucci angst so I felt the need to provide some of that for my boy.


End file.
